May

Who Will Oppose Burr?

With Roy Cooper now out of the North Carolina U.S. Senate race, the DSCC is seriously looking at four Democratic candidates, CNN reports.

The top candidates: Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC), former state Treasurer Richard Moore (D) and Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton (D).

Shuler announced that he would not seek the seat, so it would be a precipitous reversal for him to do so. The other three are all realm-of-possibility candidates. The Raleigh News and Observer lists a lot of other potential candidates including Elizabeth Edwards.

Categories : NC Senate race

4 Comments

Doug Gibson
May 18th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Grier Martin.

Look up the info on some of the most progressive legislation coming through our general assembly, and you’ll see two names show up again and again on the list of cosponsors. Susan Fisher is one; Grier Martin is another.

Martin was the top-tier recruit against Elizabeth Dole until he decided that he’d rather stay with his family. He may still feel that way, and if so, who can blame him? But he’s an Iraq War veteran, he’s a legislator who manages to get out ahead of the party despite being from a competitive district, and he’s young. I think he’d make a great candidate and, after a few years learning the ropes, an even better senator.

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RHS
May 18th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

Just a minor correction — Martin is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, not Iraq.

The news about Cooper is disappointing — he was probably the strongest candidate to run against Bank Run Burr. But a year and a half before the 2008 top tier candidates were taking a pass at taking on Elizabeth Dole and few people outside Greensboro had heard of a State Senator named Kay Hagan. So there is still hope!

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